Marked for Leander Kompany
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Feb 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match19 Feb 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Leander Kompany
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
5.27 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
A mark of 5.41 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Mouscron — 7.40
1 for Simon Lukaku, marked 7.40, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A move Andrea Fancelli would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Andrea Fancelli is living that version at Mouscron, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Leander Kompany was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match5 Feb 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Anderlecht leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market7 Feb 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Mouscron signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match29 Jan 2028
Three points for Mouscron, 2‑1 the final word against Charleroi in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrik Gunnarsson, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.83, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match29 Jan 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Mouscron. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Louis Bostyn commits to Mouscron for another 1 years.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
A mark of 4.81 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
Julian Demarteau damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.64, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Jan 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
Mouscron sell a favourite for $800.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Axel Meunier was one of the reasons people came, and $800.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market17 Jan 2028
The paperwork is done: Bryan Adinany joins from KV Kortrijk in a deal worth $540.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Market17 Jan 2028
Business is business: Axel Meunier goes
KV Kortrijk paid $800.0K and Mouscron took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Lennart Stoll was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Demarteau
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market10 Jan 2028
Axel Meunier hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces10 Jan 2028
Supporters turn on the $1.6M sale of Charles Onana
He is going to Club Brugge, the club has $1.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Axel Meunier has come up in conversations Mouscron were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market10 Jan 2028
Charles Onana has left for Club Brugge in a $1.6M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leander Kompany and Mouscron agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match8 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Demarteau
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A brace, and Kevin Fellaini takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kevin Fellaini provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market27 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Shane Wiedt: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match25 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Fellaini. 3‑1 against KV Mechelen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Kevin Vertonghen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Mouscron
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Demarteau
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Dec 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Andréa Librici: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match18 Dec 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market20 Dec 2027
The name of Leander Kompany keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mouscron say nothing, which says plenty.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Julian Demarteau damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match10 Dec 2027
0‑4. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Match11 Dec 2027
1‑4 to Racing Genk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Nacer Lukaku: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Dec 2027
Mouscron leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leander Kompany, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
Julian Demarteau damages knee ligaments — 62 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 62 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match4 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Mouscron
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Dec 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market6 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mouscron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match4 Dec 2027
1‑2 to Lokeren, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Nov 2027
Julian Demarteau damages knee ligaments — 71 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 71 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match27 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.
Market29 Nov 2027
Charles Onana hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Nov 2027
A European lesson for Mouscron
0‑2 against Lech. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 11 of the 33 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.78, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Lennart Stoll was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2027
Julian Demarteau damages knee ligaments — 94 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 94 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match5 Nov 2027
A European lesson for Mouscron
0‑2 against Maritimo. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market8 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.
Market8 Nov 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mouscron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match6 Nov 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Demarteau
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 33 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Gunnarsson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leander Kompany, and the manager let it.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A mark of 4.62 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Demarteau
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Oct 2027
Mouscron do the business in Europe
1‑1. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Mouscron came through the finding-out well against Maritimo.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match23 Oct 2027
Anderlecht left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Simon Lukaku
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.49, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Demarteau
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mouscron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Marked 8.66 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match16 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Fellaini. 1‑0 against Charleroi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Dikeni Salifou
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
Julian Demarteau damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match9 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Oct 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mouscron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Simon Lukaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Patrik Gunnarsson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Kevin Fellaini
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match9 Oct 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
Julian Demarteau damages knee ligaments — 140 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 140 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market27 Sep 2027
Charles Onana hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mouscron can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Sep 2027
Mouscron are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 17 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match25 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
4.90 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match4 Sep 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Kevin Vertonghen scored in the 85th minute, Standard Liege had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Mouscron took the lot.
Market6 Sep 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match4 Sep 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Kevin Vertonghen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mouscron.
The terraces6 Sep 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Axel Meunier, and the manager let it.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Aug 2027
$2.6M — a new record at Mouscron
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Match25 Aug 2027
Mouscron bow out of the cup
Club Brugge go through and Mouscron go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market30 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 13 of the 34 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market30 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Simon Lukaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
Mouscron spend $2.6M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.6M for Dikeni Salifou, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Aug 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Gunnarsson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market9 Aug 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dylan Ragolle has his answer from Mouscron; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
4.43. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Match7 Aug 2027
Point won or two lost for Mouscron?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zulte Waregem? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market9 Aug 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mouscron know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Jul 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Mouscron scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 7.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market2 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match31 Jul 2027
Three points for Mouscron, 3‑2 the final word against KAA Gent in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christian Vertonghen and Mouscron agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Vladislav Cherny: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jannik Westphal is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hans De Ketelaere is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad24 May 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Mouscron have had the benefit of it.
Squad24 May 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
-
Squad
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad17 May 2027
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Gabriel Dumas breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Christian Onana: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market19 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Leander Kompany’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Simon Lukaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Abdoul Karim Traoré, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Andréa Librici: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mouscron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Mouscron, and 0 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Abdoul Karim Traoré’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mouscron.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mouscron told Patrik Gunnarsson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Charles Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Leander Kompany has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match30 Jan 2027
Anderlecht made Mouscron work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emerson Martins commits to Mouscron for another 1 years.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 7.98 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Mouscron had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Lukaku is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match23 Jan 2027
Charleroi left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Marked 8.60 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at Mouscron
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I did not go to OH Leuven to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mouscron and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
KV Mechelen come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mouscron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Mouscron will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Mouscron have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match2 Jan 2027
Mouscron cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Simon Lukaku falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mouscron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Simon Lukaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Simon Meunier is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Simon Vertonghen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 2‑1 win over Club Brugge, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Leander Kompany at his very best
Marked 8.82. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mouscron.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Kevin Fellaini at his very best
Marked 8.29. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mouscron.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Simon Lukaku at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mouscron.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and KV Mechelen spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Charles Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leander Kompany. 2‑1 against KV Mechelen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hans De Ketelaere has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
“I watch every Mouscron game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Waasland-Beveren runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Dec 2026
Mouscron come up short in Europe
0‑1 away to the standard of Zaglebie. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Simon Lukaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Standard Liege, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A mark of 3.87 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Mouscron
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Charles Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simon Vertonghen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Kevin Fellaini was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.57. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Mouscron, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Mouscron's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mouscron has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Onana is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match31 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Mouscron
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mouscron can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Mouscron
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
Mouscron do the business in Europe
0‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Mouscron came through the finding-out well against Thun.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Vertonghen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Fellaini, and the manager let it.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to KV Oostende, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The team sheet said everything about Simon Vertonghen
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Simon Vertonghen.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Mouscron, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Market26 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leander Kompany signs something — a contract at Mouscron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Simon Meunier is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Charles Onana falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leander Courtois, and the manager let it.
Match10 Oct 2026
Charleroi made Mouscron work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 4.59, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mousa Kompany damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match28 Sep 2026
Mouscron up to position 3
16 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Westerlo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roggerio Nyakossi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Waasland-Beveren to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mouscron and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
4.00. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mousa Kompany damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Simon Lukaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leander Kompany, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Simon Lukaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.91. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mousa Kompany damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Lennart Stoll was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Simon Vertonghen did the work nobody counts — 7.61
14 combined actions and 7.61. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Mouscron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Vertonghen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nacer Boyata gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Simon Vertonghen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Club Brugge, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
4.64 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
5.67. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kevin Fellaini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Simon Vertonghen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match5 Sep 2026
KV Mechelen left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Mouscron are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A mark of 4.57 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2026
Club Brugge ended it 1‑6. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 11 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market31 Aug 2026
Mouscron say no — this time
The offer from KV Kortrijk for Christian Onana was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Mouscron are taken apart by Club Brugge — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-6. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Leander Kompany, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.27
A mark of 8.27 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mouscron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Dirk Asare goes up and wins it — 6.91
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 6.91 for the rest of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Leander Courtois, 35, rolls back the years — 7.81
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Michy Doku’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mouscron.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simon Lukaku, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Matheus Neves falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch17 Aug 2026
“I did not go to Anderlecht to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mouscron and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 0 matches say the rest.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Mouscron can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
5.61. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Aug 2026
OH Leuven will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mouscron were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Aug 2026
Club Brugge come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mouscron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Both of them Michy Doku's — 8.40
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.40, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Simon Lukaku commits to Mouscron for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Simon Lukaku in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mouscron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Mouscron have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Charles Onana at his very best
Marked 8.60. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mouscron.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
Twente come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mouscron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Simon Lukaku delivers — 7.92
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Simon Lukaku scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Catania have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Axel Meunier. The answer from Mouscron has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Simon Lukaku was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Leander Courtois ran the middle of the pitch — 6.39
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.39, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match1 Aug 2026
Zulte Waregem left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Fellaini, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Kevin Vertonghen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.